Under The Same Stars
by PikaLuv352
Summary: Muen has always lived by the same philosophy: no one should be treated poorly for something they can't control. Because at the end of the day, everyone lives under the same stars. Unfortunately, not everyone agrees with this philosophy, and have made it a goal to hurt Muen for who she is. Now, she's on a mission to prove her worth to herself and everyone who's ever questioned her.
1. Prologue

Thirty-one years ago, a beautiful baby girl was born to two loving parents. The girls mother had golden brown hair and kind blue eyes. Her face was framed with lines from years of happiness. Her skin was fair and lightly blemished. She was small and thin, with spidery fingers and nails that could cut cleanly through paper. Her husband was quite her opposite. He had shaggy black hair and deep black eyes that one could stare into forever. His skin was tan from years of work as a shinobi. He was tall and well built, even for a man in his line of work. He was seldom seen smiling, his eyebrows always tightly knit together in a from. But when his daughter was born, the tough exterior melted away and he beamed brightly at the child.

The girl grew up to be just as beautiful as her mother and father. She took her mother's kind blue eyes and fair skin, but had her fathers shaggy black hair and muscular build. She had dustings of freckles across her face and shoulders, as well as a light pink glow to her cheeks. As she grew, she attracted the attention of many potential suitors. But she had her eyes set on one boy in particular. The one boy who didn't seem to have any interest in her. He was handsome, though not noticeable. His chestnut brown hair always seemed unkempt, his green eyes hidden behind rectangular glasses. He had a somewhat stocky build, and he was as pale as a snowflake. His nose was always buried in a book, and the girl loved that he didn't seem to care for trivial things. When they were put in the same academy classroom, the girl was thrilled, and she immediately found her seat next to him.

In the beginning, the boy paid no mind to the girls attempted flirting. But after a few weeks of chipping away at his cold exterior, the girl managed to get the boy to open up. Sitting together in class turned into eating lunch together, which turned into hanging out outside of school. This turned into casual dating, meeting each others families. The years flew by without either noticing. They were both jonin when the boy got down on one knee and proposed, and then they were married. The Third Shinobi War tempted the couple to not have any children, fighting for Konohagakure was a full-time job after all. But when their friends, a couple named Minato and Kushina assured them all would work out in the end, they relented. And soon, a baby girl was announced to be brought into the world.

Unbeknownst to all, Kumogakure was hiding more than one tailed beast. The ten tails, the most powerful tailed beast since they had been split, was a white tiger named Byakko. When Kumo realised they would lose, they released the terrifying beast into the world as their weapon of war. Byakko resisted attack at first, but she was forced, willed by the villagers to do their bidding. She attacked Konoha, sending the village into mass panic.

On one cold night, a baby girl was born to the couple who had once been so innocent. Weak from childbirth with her husband fighting in the war, the woman who had once been the girl stumbled to the top of the hokage monument with her newborn baby. She stood before the great beast, tears streaming from her kind blue eyes as she used all of her chakra to perform a technique her friend had taught her. Her screams echoed through the village as she performed Rasengan and weakened Byakko enough for her to seal Byakko inside herself.

As the girl felt herself losing energy, two women appeared before her. One of the women trailed ice behind her as she moved. Her white hair flowed down to her ankles like freshly fallen snow. Her pale skin blended into her long, pure white kimono, which dragged behind her as she walked. Her piercing violet eyes seemed out of place against the rest of her. Her long, spidery hands trailed into bloody red claws. Her shocking red lips smirked at the woman before her. The other woman was quite the opposite of her companion. Her skin was red, almost burnt. Her eyes were as black as freshly burnt charcoal, with charred black hair falling to her waist. Her short red kimono trailed down into her long serpents tail, which looked to be four yards long. Her long snakes tongue poked out of her mouth as she hissed at the mother.

"Who are you?" The mother asked weakly, pulling the bassinet her baby was in closer to her.

"My name is Yuki, this is my companion, Kiyo." The pale woman introduced, extending a delicate hand out to the mother.

"What do you want?" The mother grimaced as she began fading out of consciousness.

"We want to help." Kiyo shot, snaking circles around the group.

"I don't want your help." The mother spat, struggling to keep her blurring vision on both of the women.

"But you need it." Yuki replied simply. "If you keep Byakko inside you, there will be no hope for your survival. Even with our help, you're too weak to keep her contained. But, your daughter is a much more suited candidate."

The mother was shaking her head before Yuki even finished her sentence. "Absolutely not. I will not let her live like this." She gestured to her current state of weakness.

Kiyo rolled her eyes. "You have no choice." She hissed out the s sound. "If you keep her inside you, you'll die and she'll be released. But, if you put Byakko and us inside the girl, things will turn out much better."

The mother looked at her newborn. It was all happening so fast. She just became a mother, she didn't want that to be taken away so fast. "We'll both live?" Both women nodded contently. The mother nodded along with them. "No tricks. She stays safe, and I am allowed to be her mother."

Yuki smiled lightly at the mother and nodded. She extended her hands out to her sides. "As you wish."

As the words were uttered, both women began glowing, until they were nothing but silhouettes of light. They both floated into the girls mouth like a breeze as she inhaled. Hesitantly, the mother drew the sealing symbol on her daughter's chest. Tears fell onto the symbol as she performed the sealing jutsu and pressed her hand to the mark. The baby screamed in pain as Byakko was transferred into her. The mother held her daughter and cried until the baby's screaming faded. She pulled her ruby necklace off and clipped it around the baby. Dirt crunched under heavy footsteps as someone approached the pair.

"Go. Leave me alone." The mother demanded through choked sobs. The footsteps continued towards them. The woman rolled to face the stranger. "I said, leave us-"

She was cut off by a cold metal pressed into her throat. With a quick slice, the mother began choking on her own blood. There was no pain, only confusion as the mother coughed in a vain attempt to speak. The attacker knelt down and pressed their finger to their lips, quietly shushing her. Within seconds, the mother was dead, and the attacker was nowhere to be found. Kushina and Minato were the ones to find the baby and her dead mother on top of the monument. Kushina had cried and Minato had gagged. Both had agreed to care for the girl until her father returned from war.

But her father would never return from war. He would be crushed saving his fellow shinobi from a violent rockslide. He would be dead before anyone would know to save him. In Konoha, Kushina had gushed to her husband about how beautiful the girl was. With piercing violet eyes and raven-feather hair. Her skin was pale, though seemed to have a red tint to it. Minato had brought up that she didn't look like either of her parents, and Kushina had brushed him off.

A year and a half later, Kushina was pregnant with her own baby and the baby girl could vaguely say five words: Mina, Kushi, Kaka, Rin, and Obi. The baby had watched Kakashi's team leave on their mission during the war. And she had watched Kakashi and Rin come back without Obito. The baby had asked: "where's Obi?" and Rin had cried. And then she watched Kakashi and Rin leave, and she watched Kakashi come back completely alone and broken. She hadn't asked where Rin was, but she had sat in Kakashi's lap and hugged him. He had fallen asleep with the baby girl in his arms after a traumatising few weeks.

The next month, the stranger that had killed the girls mother was back in Konoha. He watched Kushina carry the girl to her room and tuck her in for the night. He had snuck in through the window and had shot a tranquilizer dart at Minato when he heard the break in and tried to stop the stranger. And before Kushina could even return to the room, the man was out of sight, and out of Konoha. Kushina cried, Minato tried to comfort her, but inside, he wanted to cry too. Kakashi had refused to leave his room for a month after the girl was taken.

But somewhere deep in the mountains of the land of fire, in a tall stone tower, a woman sat in a wooden chair with a two year old girl in her arms. She stared down at the girl in slight disapproval, but didn't say anything and simply paid the kidnapper for his work. There was a high price to pay for a girl of her power. The woman already had two daughters who had grown up to be very mean girls, and she was planning to use them to her full advantage. She kept her in the tower for years, forbidding her from ever leaving. A true Repunzel story.

The young girl was raised alone, with a few scattered visits from the woman and her two "sisters". A man hired my the woman would periodically come along on these visits to torture the girl. She was whipped, branded, forced to walk over hot coals. Her bones would be broken if she did something wrong. The woman would splash water over her back and whip her with a bamboo stick until her skin tore. The two girls had thrown the younger girl into a small closet barely large enough to hold a person. The walls of the closet had shards of glass sticking in it, scratching the girl every time she moved. They had once forgotten about the girl and left her in the closet for four days. When they finally opened it, the girl was covered in her own mess and had stretched herself up to the top of the closet so she could sleep. They didn't leave her in the closet for more than a day and a half after that.

This is the story of Muen, a girl who was forced away from society for something she hadn't wanted in the first place. A girl whose entire world had been stripped away from her. And the same girl who held it and swore like a sailor until she got it back. This is how a tortured soul overcame the worst, so she could be her best.


	2. Ch 1: Caught Ginning At A Dead Body

There are three things you need to know before reading this. Number one: I had been planning my escape for two months and somehow kept my plans hidden the entire time. Number two: I was seven at the time and as far as I could remember, I had never been outside. And number three: It was not in my plans to kill anyone. I will say that until I am six feet underground, which will probably be soon.

I looked at my supplies laid out on the floor and thought about what I would need for the trip. I had stolen one of Gōmon's maps from bag during one of his "visits". I'll be honest, I don't know his real name. But Gōmon seems very fitting based on his hobby. The map was detailing how to get to Konohagakure from the small fishing village at the base of the mountain. From the knowledge I'd gathered from the small objects around the tower, I guessed it had once been an astronomy tower and Aijin, the woman who had locked me in here in the first place, had elected to not clear it out. Her mistake. As soon as I found the telescope I was looking at everything I could reach. I'd found that there was a small fishing village at the base of the mountain, and I'd found that a pirate ship often stopped in for supplies.

I opened up my small backpack I'd found in the attic of the tower and began packing. Three water bottles I could fill in the village, a bar of soap, and shampoo I'd transferred into an unused ketchup bottle. I packed two books, my apothecary recipe book and book on basic jutsu's and how to perform them. I packed dried apples, honey oat cakes, fresh bread I'd baked the night before, a small vial of cinnamon, and almonds. I pulled all of my apothecary ingredients from the shelves around the tower and loaded them all into my bag. Footsteps stomped beneath the trapdoor in the first room of the tower. I pulled up one of the floorboards and slid my bag into the secret compartment. As soon as I slid the floorboard back into place, Gōmon opened the trap door and climbed into the room.

"What do you want?" I asked, not moving from my spot on the ground.

Gōmon walked over to me and grabbed me by by hair. He lifted me up from the floor and brought me close to his face. I could smell the morning cigarette on his breath. "Watch your mouth." He growled, dropping me to the ground. I scowled at Gōmon as he walked away from me and moved into the small kitchen I had made in what had once been the study. He opened the small cabinet I'd frozen to keep things cool and pulled out a single egg. He walked back into the main room, examining the egg. "Think fast." He mumbled before launching the egg at me. Gōmon always cheated at things like this, stopping the egg as I moved to dodge and then restarting its flight when I came back up.

I began pulling the egg yolk out of my hair as two chittering giggles rang through the tower. _Shit_, I thought as Natsumi and Natsuko climbed into the tower. They giggled and whispered to each other upon seeing me. The girls were the same amount sisters as I was to them. Meaning not at all. They were always together, but Natsumi hated Natsuko. She'd taken up most of my time complaining about her sister. I'd always thought Natsumi was pretty. She had bright red hair that went to her mid back, bright golden eyes that seemed to be squinted most of the time from scrunching her nose. Her skin was nicely golden from her time in the sun at school. Natsuko was pretty too, but she was very mean. Natsuko had platinum blond hair so light it was almost white. Her skin was much darker than Natsumi's from constant tanning. Her eyes were bright emerald green. I turned away from the girls to avoid them making fun of me for the egg in my hair.

"Muen! Why won't you look at us?" Natsumi pried, walking up next to me.

I got up from the ground and pushed past my group of tormentors to wash the egg out of my hair. In the small bucket of water.

"Girls, leave the room for a moment." Gōmon instructed from behind me.

I watched Gōmon's hands trap me against the counter. I felt my blood beginning to boil as one of his hands played with my hair. The other hand caressed my shoulder and arm. I spun around and slapped him across the face. Within the second, Gōmon wrapped his hand around my throat and began pulling my pants down with the other. I saw red. I would never let him touch me again. I reached behind me and grabbed the small kitchen knife from the counter and closed my eyes. I slashed out in front of me and refused to open my eyes until Gōmon's hand left my pants. There was a light spray of something warm and slick, and then Gōmon's body slumped to the ground.

I slowly let my eyes squint open until I saw the pool of blood forming at my feet. I had slit his throat. His warm blood coated the bottoms of my scarred feet. My heart pounded in ears as the walls seemed to close in on me. I ran to the front room and tore up the floor board with a speed I didn't know I had. I stopped in my tracks. I wouldn't get anywhere without money. That was one of the only useful thing Aijin had taught me. I knelt down on the floor and readied my hands.

Dog - Boar - Ram. "Henge no Jutsu." I whispered. I felt my body growing and my hair getting shorter as I focused on what Gōmon looked like. I ran to the bucket of water in the kitchen and looked in my reflection. I was a perfect copy of him. I cleared my throat. "She won't be misbehaving for a while."

Maybe it wasn't convincing, but it was enough to fool the girls at the bottom of the stairs. I opened the trapdoor and walked down the stairs, picking up my pant legs like a dress as I walked. I may have looked like Gōmon, but that didn't change the fact that my clothes still weren't practical.

"Why are you holding your pants like that?" Natsuko asked upon seeing me.

"I wanna make sure that bitch didn't get blood on them." I grumbled out. Natsuko smirked, though Natsumi had the vaguest bit of suspicion in her eyes. "I'm done with her, she won't be misbehaving for a while."

Natsuko's eyes lit up. "Can we go play with her now?"

I tried to keep my anger at bay as I spoke. "No, you'll kill her if you do."

She hummed, but the girls eventually led me to the little cottage in the mountains that they lived in. The world outside was a lot less scary than I thought it would be. There was no one waiting outside to kill me. There were no terrifying animals that feasted on kids that misbehave. There were birds and bunnies. Bushes with berries growing on them littered to forest. When we finally came to the house, the girls pushed the squeaky wooden door open. Aijin sat at a wooden dining table smoking a pipe and barely spared us a glance. The girls ran back to their room while I stood uncomfortable in front of Aijin

"Done already, huh?" She asked, her voice gravelly from years of smoking.

"She didn't put up much of a fight this time." I replied quietly, trying to look confident.

Aijin nodded approvingly and reached into her obi. She pulled out a small bag and threw it at me. I caught it and loosened the drawstrings. I had no concept of money, but it looked like a lot. I tucked the pouch into my pocket and bowed to Aijin. I tried to hide my jump as a tea kettle in the kitchen began screeching.

"Natsuko! Come get the tea!" Aijin yelled, coughing loudly and she inhaled more smoke.

Natsuko immediately left her bedroom and moved into the kitchen. I looked to the bedroom door to see Natsumi waving me over. Aijin was too engrossed with her book to notice me walk into Natsumi's room As soon as the bedroom door was shut, Natusmi locked it and turned to face me. "I know it's you, Muen." She accused, crossing her arms and tapping her foot. I tried to make myself look confused, but she simply scoffed. "You may have Natsuko fooled, but not me. Gōmon doesn't care about blood on his clothes." I didn't know she called him Gōmon too. I let the jutsu fall away until I was my normal self again. Natsumi looked me up and down, concern forming in her eyes. "What happened to you?"

I ran my finger over my face and examined it. Blood coated the pad of my index finger. I was covered in it. "Please, don't tell Aijin that I'm here."

Natsumi snorted. "Seriously, I couldn't give less of a shit if you left." She remarked, sitting on her bed and crossing her legs. "Are you leaving tonight?" I nodded and she looked somewhat sad. "Well, there's a pirate ship that docks in the fishing village. I don't know if they let people hitch rides, but it's better than nothing. Worst case scenario, they say no and you steal a fishing boat." Natsumi said it like it was nothing, but her words shook me to my core. The idea of stealing someone's boat and leaving them with no way of getting food made me sick. "You need to hurry. The ship never stays longer than two days and it's almost sundown. It's a twenty minute hike down the mountain if you're quick." I nodded and moved to unlock the door. "Wait, I almost forgot." Natusmi stated. She stood from her bed and opened her desk drawer. She pulled out a small box and handed it to me. "Don't open it until you're on the ship." She said. Then Natsumi did something unexpected. She wrapped her arms around me and pulled me into a hug. "Don't do anything stupid. And redo that jutsu so you don't get caught."

I returned Natsumi's hug. When she released me, I redid the transformation jutsu and opened the door. With one final wink and a comforting shoulder squeeze, Natsumi sent me out of the room. I tucked the box into my pocket and moved to leave the house, but was stopped in a cold sweat by Aijin's voice.

"Wait." She called after me. I turned around to see what she needed. "She's been getting too tough. I can tell her power is growing, whether it be the things inside of her or not, I have no idea. Before you leave tonight, I want you to push her so close to death she can't even think. Let's see how it turns out."

I nodded, my toes curling in the fake sandals. I saw Natsumi standing in the doorway of her bedroom. She mouthed 'sorry' at me as I turned and left the house. On my trek back to the tower, I couldn't help but think about what Aijin had said. I hadn't noticed myself getting stronger. I had taught myself a few jutsu here and there, but nothing incredible or noticeable. I thought about what she had meant by 'the things inside of her'. Byakko, Yuki, and Kiyo hadn't been helping me with my strength or power. They had talked to me through my chakra plane, but that's it. Unless they had been helping me and I hadn't noticed.

I climbed up the tall stairs of the tower and opened the trap door. The front room reeked of death. I didn't know that Gōmon's body was going to start smelling so soon. He wouldn't be up there for much longer. I pulled up the floor board and grabbed my bag. I was in the home stretch of leaving. I cursed the setting sun as I prepared myself to leave. I was running out of time, and I didn't have a lot of it to begin with.

I grabbed Gōmon's weapons pouch from his body and clipped it onto my leg. I slung my bag onto my shoulder, grabbed the small box from Natsumi and the pouch of money and left the tower. I wanted to set it on fire, but that would've drawn too much attention.

The sun was setting faster than I would have liked, and I was losing too much time. I had just over twenty minutes to get to the ship if I sprinted. And so I did. I sprinted as fast as I could down the mountain. My lungs burned at my legs ached as if I were being hit by a sledge hammer by time two minutes had passed. I was surprised it had even taken that long. I'd never run more than the laps I did around the tower to prepare myself. That wasn't nearly enough to prepare me for this. Twenty minutes felt like an hour. I thanked whatever god was out there for letting the trip be downhill. I wanted to pass out as I reached the bottom of the mountain and ran into the village.

By the time I made it, I was able to see the crew of the ship climbing back on board. I was almost out of time. I picked up the pace, running as fast as my legs could carry me. I tried not to run into anyone, but I was desperate. Finally, I found the dock. I ran up to the man I assumed to be the captain.

"S-sir!" I gasped out, running up to him.

He turned around in surprise and stared at me for a moment. "Whatta'ye need, lass?"

I let out a cough and wheeze in a vain attempt to catch my breath. "H-how much is it for a one way trip to, to the land of fire?"

He arched an eyebrow at me. "We don't take passengers, lass."

Tears slipped down my cheeks. "Please, sir, I am begging you. I need to go to the land of fire. There are people here who want to kill me and I need to get far away from them."

The captain tapped his chin and knelt down to be at eye level with me. I tried to hide my pitiful sobs from him, but he forced me to look him in the eyes.

"Tough lassies ain't afraid to cry." He smirked at me. I nodded and sniffed, standing up straight. "I'll tell ye what, if I let ye board, ye're gonna work fer it. Ye'll cook with the lassies in the kitchen and ye'll clean the deck when everyone's asleep. Ye'll learn to handle a fine ship like this, and I'll let ye ride free for yer work. Deal?"

I looked at the ship. It wasn't a horrible offer. It would mean that I had extra money for food when I got to Konoha. I looked at the captain and nodded. He laughed heartily and stood straight. He patted me back and walked with me onto the ship. As the ship began its voyage, the captain introduced me to the rest of the crew as the newest member. He explained everything to them, and the crew laughed. But they weren't mocking me. One man named Ken'Ichi taught me how to mass the sails and how to navigate based on the stars. The ships quartermaster, Sho, was very nice to me. He let me have a puff from his pipe.

The ladies in the kitchen were very welcoming. They showed me how to prepare the meal for dinner that night and how to properly serve someone food. That night, we had cooked and served smoked steak, baked potatoes and green beans. The crew was so kind to me and the cooks. They thanked us graciously for the food and I learned that everyone sat at the same dining table. The sails had been tied at half mast so we could continue sailing safely while we ate. The ships crew didn't ask why I wanted to go to the land of fire. Most of them had ended up on the crew from escaping their old lives.

The crew laughed heartily at a joke Ken'Ichi had told. I took a sip of the rum the captain had poured for me. At first it had tasted like lighter fluid, but I was starting to get used to it.

The captain stood up suddenly, gaining the attention of everyone. He looked at me and smiled. "Lass, do ye know what yer name means?" I shook my head, earning a loud and angry reaction from the rest of the crew. The captain waved his hands to quiet them. "Muen means 'unknown', and I think it's only right we welcome ye to the crew with a new name. I may be old and crazy, but it doesn't seem to me that ye'r very unknown." The crew hollered in agreement with the captain.

"Okay." I replied quietly. "So what should it be?"

The room went silent as everyone went deep in thought. The quartermaster was the first to speak up. "Maiko." He suggested. The crew turned and looked for my approval.

I thought about it for a second before an unexpected smile grew on my face. I nodded, "I like Maiko."

The crew cheered loudly and I laughed. When dinner was finished, I collected all of the dishes and helped the cooks clean up. It was a bit difficult to get used to a new name, but I liked Maiko much better than Muen. I scrubbed the dishes and put them all in their places, I wiped down the table and replaced all of the chairs, and I put away all of the alcohol so it wouldn't break when we came to rocky waters.

When I was finished cleaning up after dinner, I grabbed some cleaning supplies and walked out to the deck. I mopped the ships deck with as much precision as possible. The captain was leaning against the railing of the deck, smoking a pipe. There were so many stars in the sky. Much more than I could see from the small window in the tower. I had gotten so distracted by the stars I had stopped mopping to stare at them. I jumped as the captain started chuckling.

"I've seen that look before." He remarked, blowing out a puff of smoke. "Yer first time seeing the stars like this?" I nodded, feeling my face heat up. The captain waved me over to him. I set the mop down and walked over to him, climbing over the railing and sitting down. The captain held out his pipe to me. "Ye ever smoked before?"

I shook my head. "No sir."

The captain pulled out a small bag of tobacco and pressed it into the bowl of the pipe. He brought his fingers into the ram sign and blue a small stream of fire before handing me the pipe. "Try it." I nodded and took the pipe. I wiped off the bit and the lip before bringing it up to my lips and sucking on the pipe. I inhaled some smoke and coughed out the rest. The captain laughed the smoke left my lungs. "Don't like it?" I looked at him and shrugged before taking in more smoke. It wasn't bad, it was just a weird sensation as first. When I finished the second puff, I held the pipe out to the captain. He shook his head. "You keep it, I have more." I nodded and continued to smoke the pipe. "Not much of a talker are ye?"

I shook my head. "Talking means I'll say something stupid." I stated Aijin's words back to the captain.

He scoffed at me and waved his hand. "Who taught you that?"

I inhaled more smoke. "A devil who wears a kimono." Smoke spilled from my mouth as I spoke.

The captain patted my back reassuringly. "I haven't know ye for long, lass, but I haven't heard a single stupid work come out of ye. Ye may not talk much, but ye ain't stupid." I finished smoking the rest of the tobacco and stuffed the pipe into my pocket. I smiled at the captain. "What're ye gonna do when ye get to fire country?" The captain asked.

I looked out over the waves. "I'm gonna go to Konoha and enter the academy to become a shinobi." I replied.

The captained hummed in thought. He pulled a slip of parchment from his pocket as well as a small pencil and wrote something down before handing it to me. "Don't lose that. There's a pub a few hours from Konoha. Ask the barkeep to speak to Ema. Tell them Katsuo set you."

"Who's Katsuo?" I asked, looking up at him.

"I am, lass. Captain Katsuo." The captain beamed. I smiled at him and stuffed the paper into my pocket. There was a calming moment of silence before the Captain Katsuo spoke again. "Can ye swim?"

I shook my head. Captain Katsuo pressed his hand to my back and shoved me off the ship. I screamed as I fell into the freezing cold water. My head went under as I flailed my arms around wildly. I kicked into the water until I came to the surface. I looked to the deck of the ship to see Captain Katsuo in his same spot, looking directly at me.

"What the hell was that for!?" I cried out, splashing ferociously.

"Shinobi are problem solvers, lass!" He called back to me. "So find yer way back on board!"

I gasped as I felt myself go under again. I had to calm myself down, otherwise I would be left in the sea. I opened my eyes through the burning salt water and looked around. A pod of dolphins swam by the ship, moving their tails up and down to propel themselves forward. Following their lead, I pressed my feet together and pushed my legs up and down. I didn't have fins, but I used my arms to crawl through the water. It wasn't perfect, but I was moving closer to the ship quickly. As I came to the side of the ship, I dug my nails into the wood and pulled myself above the surface. I found small spaces between the boards and began pulling myself up the side of the ship, coughing up water as I went. I grabbed the railing and heaved myself onto the deck, rubbing the salt and hair from my eyes. When I opened my eyes, Captain Katsuo stood in front of me with a sword aimed at my neck. I groaned and glared at him.

"Where's yer weapon?" He asked lowly.

I was gonna kill this man when I got the chance. I reached into my weapons pouch and grabbed a kunai, pulling it out and pushing Captain Katsuo's sword away from my neck. I rolled to safety and pushed myself to my feet. I pointed my kunai at him and only then realised how pathetic I really was. I didn't stand a chance in the academy. The captain ran at me and lunged his sword at my face. I ducked and held my head protectively. I waited for him to pull back, but he didn't I looked up to see that his sword was stuck in the wood. Thanking god that it hadn't been my face, I grabbed his ankles and pulled with all my strength. Captain Katsuo slipped on the puddle of water I'd left in my wake and fell flat on his back, a hard wheeze escaping his lungs. Taking my chance, I reached up and pulled at the sword until it came out. It slipped out of my wet hands and fell to the ground. I picked up the sword again and squeezed the handle so it wouldn't fall again. Captain Katsuo ran at me and I spun around to run away. The captain chased me around the deck until I turned on my heel and pointed the sword at his neck just as he'd done to me. Captain Katsuo chuckled darkly. In one swift move, he pushed the blade away and grabbed my bicep, twisting my arm behind my back and holding me against the ground. He picked up the sword and held the dull end against my throat.

"Now think about this, lass." He growled. "Yer enemy won't give ye a chance to think. You have to be faster than whoever ye'r fighting. Got that?" I nodded quickly, hoping to make the pain go away. The captain let go of my arm and stepped off of me, pulling the sword from my throat. I laid on the ground and held my arm in pain. "I'm sorry I scared ye, but I want ye to know what ye'r in for. We'll continue this training until we dock at the land of fire. I expect ye to be better than this when we land."

Captain Katsuo sheathed his sword and turned to go to his quarters for the night. I grabbed another kunai from my weapons pouch and ran at him. I shoved the captain down the stairs, startling him enough to leave him open. When he landed and rolled to face me, I jumped on top of him. I pressed my knee into his chest, aiming the kunai at his throat. Fear flashed through his eyes for a brief moment before he smirked and burst out laughing.

"Good on ye, lass!" He cheered.

I smiled at him, tears brimming my eyes. "You aren't, going to win so easily, sir."

Captain Katsuo beamed at me before patting my head and shoving me off of him. He left to his quarters for the night. I stood up from the floor and mopped all of the water up from the deck. I had to wake up early to help with breakfast in the morning. I dumped the bucket of water out over the side of the boat and put the cleaning supplies back where I'd found them. I went down to the living quarters and found the room the crew had assigned me to. It was slightly bigger than a closet, with a cot and a space I could put my stuff, and a small window allowing me to see the ocean outside. I noticed something white folded on the cot as I put my stuff down. I picked it up and found it to be a rather large white nightgown, along with a note from the captain telling me not to catch a cold. I sighed and pulled off my clothes, pulling the nightgown over myself and relishing in how warm it was. I picked up my clothes, rung them out through the window, and laid them over the bed rail to dry.

I saw the small box Natsumi had given me and picked it up. Inside the box was a necklace with a silver chain and a small ruby pendant, along with a piece of paper folded up to fit inside the box. I unfolded the paper to find that it was a letter, signed from Natsumi.

Dear Muen,

I'm sorry it's taken me so long to give this to you. According to mother, your mother gave it to you before she was killed. Mother gave it to me and told me not to wear it until you were either too old to remember it or dead, she didn't know which would come first. I don't know when you'll read this letter, or if you ever will to be honest, but I wanted to apologize. When you were first brought to us, Natsuko and I were told that you were a monster, and that you were gonna hurt a lot of people. We were told that you needed to be punished. And I'm ashamed to say I believed it. But after a while, I stopped seeing a dangerous monster, and I started to see the little kid that you actually were, and are. I can never take back when Natsuko and I have done to you, and there aren't enough sorries in the galaxy to express how much I need to apologize. But hopefully I can help you with this letter.

If you've received this, it means that you're going to escape. I always knew you would. But there's something you don't know that I couldn't tell you before you left. Mother has special ninja that will be sent after you as soon as she sees you're gone, which we both know will be soon. You need to watch your back, don't tell anyone anything about your escape. You'd be surprised who mother can pay off to help her. She will do anything to keep you as her own personal weapon. She needs you, you're her biggest prize. Please, be careful. I wasn't able to protect you from the others, but I can warn you about this. I hope this is enough to keep you safe. I love you imouto.

Safe travels,

Natsumi

I felt tears building up in my eyes as I read the letter. And then those tears turned to anger. My mother was killed? I had always been told by Aijin that she'd sold me to her because she didn't want me. But she did want me, and she was killed because of it. My knuckles turned white as I clenched my fists. I silently thanked Natsumi for her sacrifice. If Aijin found out that she'd warned me about this, she'd be punished for sure. I clipped the necklace around my neck and folded the letter up again. I placed it safely in the box and put the box into the pocket of my bag. I laid under the blanket in the cot and curled up for warmth, silently crying for the loss of something I hadn't even known.


End file.
